I really hope the game strongly encourages players to play both of their allotted Specs.

The big problem I always had with the WoW community in general, was the expectation that because someone played Shadow Priest or Ret Pally they shouldn't have to swap to Holy/Shadow/Prot/Holy when the situation required it. One of the best things about Rift is that the community practically demands that every player be able to play all of their roles. It makes for much better dungeon and raid environments, if your Healer or Tank DCs it doesn't matter because all of your DPS will be willing to swap and fill the gap.

There's nothing more frustrating than a DPS who isn't willing to swap specs and Heal for the group and instead forces everyone else to sit around for 20 minutes waiting for a replacement. It's selfish and the community is what either makes it acceptable or unacceptable.

It's perfectly fine to play the role you prefer the majority of the time if that's what you enjoy the most, but it isn't fine to prevent others from playing the game because you're too stubborn to do your bit for the team.

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Love it.

Looking back on the classes I've played in my MMO RPG history, my preferences are pretty clear.

I'm the biggest fan of ranged magic DPS, and the "squishy" label has never deterred me from picking this archetype and rollin' out.

However, I have found that DPS(Melee/Magic/Ranged) is the most saturated option when it comes to a raid party's make up. It was so frustrating hearing that the raid party was just a healer short or waiting for a healer after dc, and all while multiple members were out in the cold due to overpopulation of DPS.

Convenience or Play style? I think that in a lot of situations, specifically my experience with WoW, it's both.
I may choose to play a class for a specific spec/style of play (mage/fire, lock/destro, or priest/shadow) but when it comes to 10/25 man raids, participation involves strict requirements, and there's much less room for hybrids or alternative builds for key classes like the Priest. This often resulted in progression for a build/spec that wasn't my favorite, but was the only way to get involved.

I believe 40-man raids are going to give guilds a ton of flexibility when it comes to class make-up, and the opportunity for hybrid builds will be much greater than it would be with 10/25mans.

WoW didn't make it as easy just to switch specs to support a group as healer instead of your primary focus of DPS unless these people spent the extraordinary amount of time necessary to acquire a set of quality healing gear worth whichever raid dungeon. Unlike what we know about Wildstar, the mage class didn't have any other role aside from DPS. This is one of the reasons I felt the need to reroll a class that gave me the ability to fulfill multiple roles and increase my opportunities.

With what we know about Wildstar classes so far, I cannot wait to get started with whichever class & discover the roles that fit my play style, be it pure heals or hybrid DPS/CC.

I always stick to my chosen class and roles like glue. Tank or warrior DPS. Even when we're at our worst because of nerfs and the like, I always stick to it. If I can't progress as easily because of it, I just play at a more relaxed or leisurely pace. Hang out in-game and find something else to do for awhile. But I never give it up. It's what's fun for me.